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Israeli media reports planned visit, citing unnamed officials, in the wake of stalled talks mediated by Qatar, the US and Egypt
Welcome to our latest live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis. I’m Martin Belam in London and I will be with you for the next while.
An Egyptian delegation is set to travel to Israel on Friday to kickstart a new round of ceasefire talks, according to reports in Israeli media and picked up by Agence France-Presse, citing unnamed officials.
US troops have finally begun construction of a pier off the coast of Gaza that aims to speed the flow of humanitarian aid, the Pentagon has said, but the complex plan to bring more desperately needed food to Palestinian civilians is still mired in fears over security and how the aid will be delivered.
The US and 17 other countries including the UK, France and Germany are calling for the release of hostages by Hamas, and saying that there is a deal on the table that offers “an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza” in return. In a letter, they write: “The fate of the hostages and the civilian population in Gaza, who are protected under international law, is of international concern. We emphasise that the deal on the table to release the hostages would bring an immediate and prolonged ceasefire in Gaza.”
Briefing the media about the letter, a senior US administration official said the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had prioritised holding on to the hostages over securing a ceasefire. “Hamas is holding hostages, they are releasing videos of the hostages and refusing to let the hostages go back to their families. And if they would do that, this crisis will wind down. It’s just a very clear path.”
Israel appears to be readying to send troops into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, the only corner of the strip that has not seen fierce ground fighting and where more than half of the Palestinian territory’s population of 2.3 million have sought shelter. Haaretz reported: “The Israeli army has informed the government that its forces have completed their preparations for an upcoming operation in Rafah, and that the date for such an operation is to be decided by the cabinet.”
An aid worker who was part of Belgium’s development aid efforts has been killed by an Israeli strike on Gaza, the country’s development minister, Caroline Gennez, said on Thursday. The statement said at least seven people were killed by the strike on a building that housed about 25 people, including displaced people from other parts of the Gaza Strip. “The indiscriminate bombing of civilian infrastructure and innocent civilians goes against every international and humanitarian law and the rules of war,” Gennez said. More than 200 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas began.
At least 34,305 Palestinians have been killed and 77,293 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-led Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday. That number includes 43 deaths in the last 24 hours. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
The seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes represented the “best of humanity” and risked everything “to feed people they did not know and will never meet”, José Andrés, the celebrity chef who founded the organisation, told mourners on Thursday. Speaking at Washington National Cathedral to those gathered to honour the aid workers, Andrés said there was no excuse for the killings and renewed calls for an investigation into the deaths.
Progressive activists in the US have condemned Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, for “wilfully spreading misinformation” and “inciting violence” in a TV interview about student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
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